Franklin 4, Foxboro 3: Missed call boosts Post 75

Tuesday

Jul 1, 2014 at 10:01 PMJul 1, 2014 at 10:12 PM

By Andrew GrasseyDaily News Correspondent

FRANKLIN — With his team trailing by a run, and with two runners in scoring position with two outs in the sixth inning, Franklin's TJ Paulsen appeared to get hit in the knee by a pitch from Foxboro pitcher Will Ginsberg.The home plate umpire didn't see it that way, and so the play continued, with the ball rolling to the backstop.While Paulsen started to trot to first base under the assumption he had been hit, Bryan McGrath ran home to tie the game, catching Foxboro off guard.Three pitches later, Paulsen knocked a double past the left fielder to bring home the winning run, as Franklin Legion bested Foxboro 4-3 in Tuesday's Zone 6 matchup."It did get me," Paulsen admitted after the game. "It just barely skimmed me in the knee."After the run scored, Ginsberg and Foxboro manager Billy Travers instantly started to complain to both umpires but the call remained and the run counted.Correct or not, the game remained tied and three pitches later, Paulsen knocked a double past the left fielder to bring home the deciding run.The win brings Franklin over .500 with an 8-7 record while Foxboro falls to 9-7 on the year."Whether the pitch hit him or not, TJ stayed focused and stayed ready to hit there and came through with a big hit for us," said Franklin head coach Mark D'Angelo. "I've got to give our guys credit, they stuck with it and got clutch hits when we needed to."Although Post 75 produced runs at the end of the game, they only mounted two hits in the first four innings and trailed 3-0 heading into the fifth.Franklin starting pitcher Mike Skaza gave up two runs in the third when Adam Chochrek hit a double to the right-field gap to bring home a run and then on the next at-bat Mike Slaby hit a base hit up the middle to score a run and make it a 2-0 game.Foxboro's third run came in the fourth inning when Cam Nagle nailed an RBI double to the right field fence to make it 3-0.Skaza finished the game with 5 1/3 innings pitched, giving up six hits while punching out six hitters.Kyle Wardrop came in to pitch for Skaza in the sixth inning and with runners on first and third and one out, he forced a fly ball and ground out to get out the jam and keep the score at 3-2. Wardrop also closed out the game in the seventh inning for Post 75."I just stuck with the fastball and change-up throughout the game and I started to feel pretty confident with the change-up as the game went on," Skaza said. "Right when they took me out, I knew Wardrop had to come in and help me out and he was able to get it done."Franklin scored twice in the fifth inning when with two runners on, Eric Abruzzi hit a hard grounder toward Slaby. The ball took a bad bounce off the edge of the grass and hopped over the glove of Slaby to score both runners.Franklin got production out of the bottom of the order all day as Paulsen, who hit ninth, finished the game 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI, and Colby Lewis, who hit eighth went 2-for-3 with two base hits and a run. Jordan Papula, the seventh hitter in the lineup, had a double and a run scored in the game as well."We have been fighting all year," Paulsen said. "We are finding ways to win and our teams looking good and coming together now."